Mercury-Mars

Overview: Mercury-Mars in tense alignments combines Mercury's association with speech, gestures, thought, and communications of all types with Mars' association with assertiveness, bravery, and war.

The challenges: an ability to communicate (mercury) in a divisive, harsh, or aggressive way (mars).

The strengths: The mind (mercury) that requires exercise (mars). an inclination to verbally (Mercury) debate (Mars), to forcefully (Mars) vocalize (Mercury), to talk (Mercury) about war (Mars). the bravery (mars) to say (mercury) that which needs to be said.

Below are examples of well-known individuals born with this combination in their natal charts (an astrological birth chart is a symbolic map of the sky at the moment of birth). Observing how this combination appears in their lives can help us recognize it in our own. The more consciously we engage with these astrological alignments—or “aspects”—the more their underlying tensions can be integrated, allowing their strengths to emerge.

Please note: the expression of this archetypal tension, as seen in the lives and work of the people below, may reflect varying levels of integration.

  • A comical take on the brave and assertive (Mars) speech (Mercury) of the Mercury-Mars combination can be seen in the following clip, in which actress Christina Ricci demonstrates the Mercury-Mars combination in her natal chart by declaring (Mercury) war (Mars) in the role of Wednesday in the movie Addams Family Values: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxWOdXtLSBo

  • To understand the Mercury-Mars combination let’s look at the life of celebrity Joe Rogan. He is a stand up comic. He is a commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He interviews intellectuals on one of the most popular podcasts in the world. So, what is his job? What does he do? It’s hard to sum it up in one title. Yet, when we look at his astrological birth chart it all makes perfect sense. He was born with Mercury and Mars in alignment. Mercury symbolizes the voice, speaking, the mind. Mars heats up and activates whatever it is in alignment with, adding athleticism and warrior-like bravery. His role as a commentator (Mercury) for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (Mars) is an easy match to spot for this combination. Yet stand up comedy is too, in that bravery (Mars) is required to entertain a live audience with one’s voice (Mercury). If you listen to his podcast, sooner or later you will realize that you are basically listening to Joe Rogan exercise (Mars) his mind (Mercury) in public. The podcast is a way to capitalize on discussions his active (Mars) mind (Mercury) might be wanting to take on anyway.

  • Musician Elton John, born with this combination in his birth chart, demonstrates the energy of this combination in his song “Saturday Night’s Alright (for Fighting),” a song that verbally evokes (Mercury) the thrill of cutting loose and getting involved in a fight (Mars): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NagnbRHdh-0